This post is sure to be controversial. And I’m going to start it with a disclaimer.

This information and advice published or made available through the davejackson.com web site is not intended to replace the services of a physician, nor does it constitute a doctor-patient relationship. Information on this web site is provided for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. You should not use the information on this web site for diagnosing or treating a medical or health condition. You should consult a physician in all matters relating to your health, and particularly in respect to any symptoms that may require diagnosis or medical attention. Any action on your part in response to the information provided in this web site is at the reader’s discretion. Readers should consult their own physicians concerning the information on this web site. Dave Jackson makes no representations or warranties with respect to any information offered or provided on or through the davejackson.com web site regarding treatment, action, or application of medication.

A cure may never be possible for you. And it isn’t because you can’t be cured. What happened in my case took a healthy dose of faith. And most people aren’t at the level required to bring about cure.

It’s funny. We blindly believe other things in life, but when it is something we’ve been told can only be treated through surgery and/or medication, if an alternative way has been found – most shrug it off as impossible.

My thinking is, if you believe in what I’m about to tell you, you can probably be cured of hyperthyroid as well. Nothing is sure in this life, but I’ve found a grain of faith goes a long, long way.

One of my first concepts, and it’s not new, is that the body has to be in the best shape it can be in order to do what it needs to do. We are given a fantastic body. One that can repair itself. My belief is that is why we’re told to take care of it in Scripture. But we don’t. We abuse it in so many ways and still hope it will get us to 100.

So the first matter of business is getting in as good shape as you possibly can. For me, it’s a 5 times a week routine. I take my daughter to school – within walking distance, and keep jogging for about 45 minutes. This is extraordinary cardio. But I don’t stop with jogging.

I was at a conference in January of this year with Dr. Oz. And he says some pretty incredible stuff to a rather large audience on Oprah, so I take notes when he talks. He said that as we age, we must do weight lifting. It’s a must. So I go from jogging, without missing much of a beat, to around 100 situps on my bench. Then I do anything from free weights to my Smith machine (weight lifting on vertical runners.) In all, I get done with it all in an hour and a half.

Within 45 minutes, I’m downing a high protein shake I make up, loaded with fruit, ground flax seed, and other interesting yummy but good for you ingredients. This is real important to feed muscle. And with that shake, I take a fine tuned list of mineral supplements. I’d be lost without one special vitamin/mineral drink called Vemma that is made from the rind of the mangosteen fruit. It’s super high in antioxidants, and like I said before, when you get your body where it can perform the way God intended, well, healing is right around the corner.

I eat raw as much as possible. And gluten free. You probably think it strange, but some meals I eat a ton of veggies…and hummus. Think of why you are eating. In the curing stage you can no longer eat for pleasure. But this stuff tastes great, too. You acquire a taste.

Too many times we’re stuffing our faces and our body is working overtime on food alone with no time to work on healing. Don’t eat after 8 PM; earlier if you can. Go to bed early, too. Get at least 8 hours of sleep if you’re looking to cure something like this. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you don’t need it.

Finally, the key ingredient for me was prayer to God asking for healing, and believing He would do it. Many times we ask but never expect, so we don’t get. But what if you knew you couldn’t fail? How would you pray? That’s where you need to be. In my case, my wife is a prayer warrior. She prays over me for my health and I do as well, and believe I will be healed.

So there you have it. I am sure you have a ton of questions and I’m open to answer what you have. Write me and I’ll reply or leave a comment below. Just ask.

Many have asked for my mineral list, Vemma, and prayer verses. I can answer to the best of my ability and shoot you off my list.

Let’s talk soon,
Dave

When I waited for the results of my second blood test to be interpreted by my doctor and good family friend, I snagged two words from her 20 minutes of explanation: “they’re related.” In my case, she was referring to Celiac, an autoimmune disease that boils down to an allergic reaction to wheat and other gluten, and – guess what – Thyroid problems.

For months I was experiencing nervousness. Not quite to the point of shaking, but I had trouble talking and getting my thoughts together. I didn’t stutter, but my whit and smoothness I’d experienced in my over 15 years as a radio talk show host and deejay were gone. I thought I was drinking too much coffee, or that somehow my nerves were getting shot. It wasn’t until I was getting progressively worse with the tremors and heart palpitations that I had to know.

We are a crazy being – but in my mind I thought not knowing would maybe make it go away. Whatever the case, know that when you do find out from blood tests, you can then start on a road to a cure. This is what I did.

My doctor announced, “You have a thyroid problem.” Ah, OK… hmmm? A million and one things run through your mind when you get a diagnosis. My mind didn’t go back to the dentist who caused all the problems in the first place. I hope and pray he’s no longer experimenting on his patients. But it did run through what other things in my lifestyle I might be doing to exasperate my “hyperthyroidism.”

As expected, my doctor had two solutions: use radioiodine to burn the gland (my thyroid) out of commission and take drugs to compensate for the hormones lost for the rest of my life, or – operate and remove the thyroid surgically. I love her and she’d done a ton for my family, but she probably knew me too well to think I’d go along.

I did have a radioisotope scan on a very expensive machine that took an hour or so to take a picture of my thyroid – but it turned out normal with no nodules. So what can I say?

Anyway – no radioactive anything for me – or surgery. God put a thyroid in me and I was determined to find out if others have had success in getting cure. And here’s where the Internet came into play big time. I had found some things that helped me with my celiac. But it turned out I was already acclimated to the diet and I get all the nutrition I need. I don’t care to eat wheat.

However, hyperthyroidism affects a ton of stuff. My TSH levels were non-existent. I had a long road ahead of me. My research took me to a website that was created around the turn of the century… well the year 2000. Here was a fellow that found by much research his hyperthyroidism was caused by a deficiency in minerals. The site is IThyroid.com.

You’ve probably already clicked there, but when you come back here let me tell you my own findings as John’s are scattered and no longer updated. It’s like anything else; when you get success, you rarely go back down the road to the cure. You’d rather be as far from it as possible. So I don’t blame John. Just wish he would assign someone as a caretaker.

I have certain supplements I take that I’ll share in another post – along with the amounts and my thinking on each, with how I feel physically when I take them, and another key ingredient that will blow you away! So hang in there and I promise you’re going to love the ending.

Talk soon,
Dave

Last post I let the cat out of the bag on a life changing event for me and I hope that you can totally relate – either someone you know, or maybe even you – and these posts will help.  What is amazing is that with the technology we have at our fingertips, we can easily search the Internet and read what has worked for other people.  No longer are we bound to what the medical profession allow us to know.  It’s similar to the old church not allowing the parishioners to read the Scriptures; that only a man of the cloth could interpret the words.

Before I get too far with the concept of self-diagnosis and healing, let me say I have a great respect for many doctors.  A few are good friends.  Unfortunately, it is the medical training system that we currently have that seems to teach them more about easing symptoms than researching the cause.  And I don’t know this for a fact.  I’m writing out of my own experience, and that of friends.

Let’s take my situation as an example.

Yes, the doctors ask if you’re taking any medication, how do you feel, etc.  And I told my doctor in Arlington, Texas, that I was taking this “new” brand of antibiotic.  Why on earth he prescribed a synthetic cortisone that simply covered the symptoms…does anyone have an answer?

The “Prednisone” did cover up the reaction I was having.  But here is what happened – in my mind:  I was given an antibiotic to reduce swelling around a tooth.  A reaction to that careless drug flipped a switch with my autoimmune system.  Now I was allergic to gluten.  I suppose the doctor’s thinking was the reaction would go away, and the Prednisone would cover the horrible side-effects until it did.

But, it never did.

My doctor then referred me to a dermatologist who couldn’t diagnose the tiny painful blisters of Dermatitis Herpetiformis I now had on my knuckles, my back, upper knee area.  He took a biopsy of a blister on my ear and sent if off to the lab.  I wanted to know what was happening.  This was pre-Internet, so there wasn’t much I could research.

The dermatologist told me I had Dermatitis Herpetiformis and he prescribed Dapsone which is the common treatment for this.  It also masks the symptoms but does not address the cause of the disease.  I feel the reaction from the antibiotic triggered my autoimmune system, and that is where research should be done.  I could be wrong – but why keep covering over symptoms?

And here’s what I want you to take away from this.  The other choice was to simply stop eating anything that had gluten in it.

For me, the Dapsone was taking a long time.  I took it faithfully for three days and showed no improvement.  And then I made a life-changing decision.  I totally quit eating gluten.  And three days later all symptoms disappeared.  Pretty cool, no?

In fact, so cool that a ton of my allergies disappeared forever.  I used to have horrible reactions to Texas pollen, so bad that I’d be out of commission for days hurting.  Did gluten cause these?  I believe indirectly, yes.  As gluten is ingested, and I think largely because of the hybridized wheat, it lowers our immune system giving us less to fight with.

This was not a cure of Dermatitis Herpetiformis.  It’s simply removing the cause of the symptoms.  If I ate gluten then – I’d have those awful symptoms again.

Unfortunately, because my autoimmune system was now damaged, several other things began to slowly break down in my system.  Isn’t it interesting how tightly woven this whole tapestry of life is?  One system is dependant on another.  In my next post I’ll share the common disease this progressed to, and how I found a cure.

Talk soon.

P.S. Know someone with a allergic to wheat products or on a gluten-free diet?  Send them this site, and feel free to comment below on this story… I promise I’ll write back.

Imagine your feet firmly planted in the chocks, you’re so filled with anticipation you almost want to jump the cracking of the starter’s gun. You feel awesome and can’t wait any longer. The gun signals your start and you’re off.

Two weeks ago that was my position. But Friday I was hit head on with my biggest wall – my health. I’ve never shared my health with you, and with reason. I want the site to be more about helping you. And yet, maybe by telling my story you can benefit. So here we go.

I was born in Michigan, but soon moved to the Dallas/Fort Worth area of Texas as my parents were called into the ministry. They asked their pastor where they should go to Bible school, and Texas was the answer. At around 11, my parents felt called to the the jungles of the Amazon in Brazil. As a kid, you can imagine, I was in paradise. I felt like Tarzan and Indiana Jones all rolled into one.

Most people ask about the food. And the food there was pretty good. Fresh everything. So I can’t attribute any health challenges to living in the jungle. I graduated from high school there full of life and dreams.

Back in Texas, where I ended up, I did need some dental work done. Not sure if this was because of the fact we grew up eating hard candy in the ’60′s, but I had a mouthful of trouble.

The dentist said he couldn’t help me that day. Too much swelling. He told me to take this new antibiotic out on the market that I would have wonderful results. Little did I know that small prescription would change my life forever.

I did take the prescription, but had a horrible reaction to it. I broke out all over in a rash that painfully itched.

So, I did like most anyone else would and headed to my General Practice doctor and asked for him to take a look at it. Naturally, and this is important to follow, he did not look too much to the cause but to the effect. His prescription (to counteract the first one) was Prednisone.

The Prednisone, if you’re not familiar with it, is a form of cortisone and it did make the rash disappear. But as soon as I ran out of the medicine, the rash came back! I went back to my doctor and he gave up… and sent me to a dermatologist. A biopsy later, I was diagnosed with Dermatitis Herpetiformis.

Dermatitis Herpetiformis is sorta like it sounds. Has to do with the dermis – layer of the skin, and the effect does look a lot like herpes. Thinking back, I never thought – great, I have herpes – I just wanted to find a cure. This isn’t herpes. What it is, is a form of Celiac. I asked the dermatologist, OK…what now? And he had two answers.

First, I could take Dapsone, or… simply stop eating anything that has wheat gluten in it.

What? Did I hear that right? No more wheat in my diet? That’s right – eliminate everything and the painful blisters that had made their way around my knuckles and joints would be gone.

You know, at this stage in my life, I wasn’t totally on board with healthy foods and living. I admit, I loved the high fructose corn syrup, fat filled foods. So I accepted the dapsone prescription, and went on my way – still not knowing what was happening in this stage of my life. I was simply following doctor’s orders.

In my next update, I’ll tell you the single choice I made that added years to my life, and my advice to anyone with allergies – a simple tip that could get your life back.

I started working out again, in earnest. And I know you’ve been down the road a few times, where you start something and you hit a wall within the first few days, and you’re down. Me too. I’ll admit it.

When I’m on day four or five, my brain comes up with at least a dozen ways to totally cop out without guilt (too much), and I give up – just for one day!! come on!!

But on the very next day, guess what? Right! Life gets in the way… Now, during your normal workout time, you agreed to take lunch to the kids at school, or meet your buddy at Starbucks. And you’ve just sabotaged your routine to better health.

Why in the world do we do this?

I’ve heard about the thermostat theory, and I give it credit. I.E, you never push yourself farther than your mental thermostat – and you sabotage success. Yes, it’s true… But what I’m talking about here is not that.

We quit before payday because we didn’t have a big enough reason to keep going.

It’s that simple. You know me – I love working with the basics. It’s like going on a hike in the mountains, but not intentionally shooting for anything – like the summit. You know that isn’t your goal, so you may start up it, but any obstacle is reason enough to quit and go back down.

My why is pretty cool, actually.

Next year, I plan to go on an expedition to the Amazon. I grew up there, as many of you know, and I’m going back to my childhood stomping grounds. This is a photo expedition, starting in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, and heading up the Rio Negro river to Sao Gabriel da Cachoeira. It’s going to be fun and full of life and color, but I must be fit to enjoy it.

And right now, I’m not where I want to be.

So each day, I’m working out. Getting in shape to be able to explore, endure, survive… (OK, the survive thing I threw in there…) But I want to be in total top shape. And I want to see this area before it’s gone forever from development, or I can’t go there anymore. This is IT!

Big why? Big enough for me. Today I hit the wall. It was there as I was getting my daughter ready for school. I even read in a book that muscles need time to rebuild. Everything was working toward me not exercising. Even some cool emails from friends showed up – this morning – in my inbox. Ha! But guess what?

I got out there and whipped it.

And the reason why is because I want SO bad to do this expedition. You’re invited, by the way… drop me an email or comment. I’m looking at mid-November to February as a window – 2010. So that’s me.

What is your why? And is it big enough? If you cop out – it ain’t. Make it bigger – more focused – crystallized in your mind. I love to say – if someone woke you up at 3 AM – could you tell them your WHY? Get it that clear.

And let me know how you’re doing. I love to keep in touch. Let’s have fun and do this together!

Time for some more abs!